Dog Sitting
by lunar0o0eclipse
Summary: Hagrid asks Teddy to dog sit Fang over the winter holidays. A Teddy/Victoire Christmas story.


The fire in the grate burned low, sending only a meager amount of heat into the otherwise frigid room. Hagrid had gone off to visit Grawp and his newborn nephew (affectionately called Hagger) in the mountains for the holidays, leaving his cabin abandoned and his boarhound, Fang, in want of company.

That's where Teddy Lupin came into the picture. As Head Boy, he was required to spend his Christmas break at Hogwarts, though he honestly didn't mind a break from the hectic hustle and bustle that was a Weasley-Potter celebration. Hagrid had asked him to feed Fang twice a day, and Teddy had gladly accepted the job, though he didn't care much for the tin of baked goods Hagrid had left as a thank you.

Teddy had always loved to visit the friendly half-giant, and would often come around for tea with his best friends, Corrine Beckhurst and Thomas Silverman. They would eat before they made the trek down from the castle, just as his godfather had instructed him to. Harry's story about Ron chipping a tooth on a rock cake had put Teddy off all of Hagrid's treats, if he could figure a way to politely avoid them. If Teddy was anything, he was polite; people said he reminded them of his dad in that way. Anyways, Fang seemed to enjoy the biscuits, and in Hagrid's absence had been happily guzzling them up. Teddy made up his mind to sneak them to Fang somehow during the year too; he'd always had a special affinity for the dog.

The hut was quiet and homey, and Teddy had decided that today, Christmas, he would spend his afternoon curled up with a book on alchemy and mug of hot coco. The house elves in the kitchens had cheerfully made him a cup of the delicious substance and poured it in an ever-warm thermos, so he didn't even have to worry about taking his time to savor it. Teddy mentally blessed them as he took another long sip that seemed to send warmth to his entire body.

Fang let out a low whimper from where he was perched on the rug before the hearth. "You're cold, aren't you, mate," Teddy asked, stretching as he stood up from the large cushy chair beneath the window. "I'll run grab another log. Be back in a minute."

With that, he grabbed his winter jacket and threw it on over last year's Weasley sweater. It was orange with a large "T" in the center that was the exact shade of bright blue that he liked to wear his hair in. Mrs. Weasley always insisted that some detail on the sweater matched his hair, or rather, that his hair matched the sweater. His first Christmas at Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley had given him a sweater with his initial carefully knitted on the front in bright pink yarn. She had insisted he wear his hair to match all day long; needless to say, he rarely wore the garment that year. VIctoire had teased him relentlessly.

Victoire. He had found himself missing his fifteen-year-old almost-cousin more than he had had imagined he would over the break. She was a Gryffindor, yes, and he a Hufflepuff, but they still made a point of eating all their meals together and hung out around the castle after classes with Corrine and Thomas. Hearing her tinkling laughter in the Great Hall was one of the highlights of his day.

Teddy sighed, trudging out into the snow-covered yard. Victoire was complicated. He had thought she had liked him, been sure of it a year and a half ago at the Quidditch World Cup. She had cornered him in a dark area behind the tent where the Dumbledore's Army reunion had been taking place and kissed him straight on the mouth. Taken aback, he had returned the kiss with gusto; after all, he was a teenaged boy and Victoire was an exceptionally beautiful girl.

But then after that, nothing. She had flounced away a few minutes later, an exuberant smile on her face, and never mentioned it again. It was as if she'd had to get the kiss out of her system, and once it was gone, it was gone for good. It had taken that kiss for him to realize that Victoire was no longer a baby though, and after that there was no looking back. He found himself staring at her too long over meals, forcing himself to tear his eyes away before she caught him staring. Automatically he sought her face out in crowds, looking for the smiling cornflower blue eyes and glossy blonde hair.

He discovered that he loved the way her freckles stood out after she had spent too long in the sun and that she took her tea with four cubes of sugar and milk. He paid attention to the way she devoutly avoided the kippers at the breakfast table, and noticed that she was often grumpy on days she wore her hair in a ponytail. When she was lying she would just barely tap the toes of her left foot against the floor, and when she was angry a small line would appear on her forehead where she had scrunched it up just so. He thought it was cute. He thought everything about her was cute. In fact, it was safe to say that in the past year, he had fallen completely and totally in love with Victoire Weasley.

The wood was stacked in a disorderly pile on the side of the cabin, and Teddy snapped himself from his thoughts to choose the driest log. Snow was coming down gently and forming a thin layer of white on the top of the logs. Teddy stared at them for a few seconds, selected a log a few rows down from the top that probably wouldn't be too wet, and used his wand to remove it from its fellows. He turned around, levitating the log in front of him, and stopped cold.

Someone was there. Footprints littered the snow in front of him that weren't his, leading up to the door of Hagrid's hut. Whoever it was had gone inside. That's strange, Teddy thought, edging towards the entrance. Who else would be visiting the hut today? The only other people he knew who were close to Hagrid were Victoire, Dominique, Fred, and James, and they were all at the Burrow opening piles of presents from their doting parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Teddy's heart panged a bit; he did miss being with his surrogate family and their holiday traditions.

Cracking the door hesitantly, he peaked inside. The place had been transformed in the very short amount of time he'd been outside. A small Christmas tree stood by the coat rack, covered with enchanted candles and strings of cranberries. Bowls of Christmas oranges, gingerbread cookies, and other goodies littered the wooden tabletop, filling the small room with festive scents. And there, in the middle of the room, stood Victoire, beaming at him as if he'd just told her Gryffindor had won the House Cup.

"Are you surprised?" she asked, her lyrical voice filled with excitement. "I Floo'd into Professor Longbottom's office, and Uncle Harry lent me his invisibility cloak so I could sneak up on you. I thought for sure that you'd be in the Hufflepuff common room, but Thomas said you'd never come back from feeding Fang." She leaned down to lovingly scratch the dog behind his ear, and he wagged his tail appreciatively, a line of drool streaming down onto the rug.

"S-surprised?" Teddy stammered, walking over to the fire and putting on the new log. He was completely at a loss for words. Reaching up, he ran his hand through his now cherry-red hair, a nervous habit he'd picked up from his godfather. "Victoire, this is amazing! You did this all for me?"

She cocked her head to the side, golden hair falling like liquid over her shoulder. Light from the flames danced on the side of her face, making her eyes sparkle merrily. "Of course I did. I didn't want you to spend Christmas by yourself. No one in the family did."

They were both standing on the rug at this point, a little too close for Teddy's comfort. Yes, he loved being close to her, would love to be closer, but it was making it hard to think at the moment and he wanted to give her the present he had gotten her. Her face was so close, he only had to lean a little further forward and he could touch his lips to hers…

"Give me just a moment," he managed to get out, tearing himself away from the magnetic field around Victoire that seemed to be pulling him in more and more every second. His head swam with thoughts of the pattern of freckles on her nose, the way her warm breath had felt on his skin. He silently cursed the need he felt to get the small box meticulously wrapped in pages from the Daily Prophet.

He flew across the grounds, past the double doors of the castle, through the hall, down the corridor, to the barrel entrance to the common room. He rapped on it in the proper manner, crawled as quickly as he could through the passageway, and ran to the circular entrance to his dormitory. Under his patchwork-quilt covered bed stood the tiny package, hidden from the eyes of his dorm mates, and he whisked it into the pocket of his jeans.

He clambered back through the entrance of the hut minutes later. Victoire let out a loud laugh at his flushed face and labored breathing. She was curled up in the chair he'd been sitting in earlier, knees tucked into the arm, Fair Isle socks covering her feet, mug of hot coco in her hand.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, shedding his jacket and boots. "That's my hot coco! You can't just drink a man's hot coco!"

"And what if I do?" she teased, taking another exaggerated sip.

"I'll just have to teach you a lesson," he said, walking towards her in what he hoped was a menacing manner, hands outstretched. Her eyes widened slightly.

"Teddy, I-"

But it was too late. Teddy grabbed the mug with one hand and set it down on the table, relentlessly tickling her with the other. She slid down from the seat onto the stone floor, laughter racking her slender figure. He was hyperaware of how much they were touching: he was on his knees now over her, tickling the spot behind her knee that he's always known was her weakness, and her hands grabbed at his forearms, pulling at the sweater that covered them.

"Okay, okay," she finally gasped, tears of laughter streaming from her eyes. "I'll never steal your hot coco again. Pinky swear."

Teddy held his pinky finger up and wrapped it around hers, just as they had done so many times as children. "Now, I'm holding you to that. A man's chocolate is a sacred thing."

"Um hum," she hummed. "I've never known anyone to be as serious about chocolate as you are, Teddy Lupin."

"And you better remember it," he retorted. "I was of half a mind not to give you your Christmas present after that little debacle."

" A Christmas present?" she asked, suddenly bashful. "Teddy," you really didn't have to. I didn't wrap anything for you"

"Are you kidding me, Victoire? Look around you. You might not have wrapped me anything, but you brought me food, decorations, excellent company." He winked at her, causing a Weasley blush to spread across her fair cheeks. "And really," he said, his tone suddenly serious, "there's no one I'd rather spend Christmas day with than you."

Her hands shook as she accepted the package from his hands. She looked up at him and smiled before tearing into the paper, sending small scraps across the floor.

"Oh," she gasped, "Oh no, I can't take this. Teddy, this was your mum's."

"Exactly," he said, reaching into the box to take out the small golden locket. The front was studded with tiny purple stones that his grandmother said matched one of his mother's favorite hair shades, and on the back three words were etched in the precious metal:

"Always with you," read Victoire, running her finger over the tiny letters.

"And when I'm not here next year, when I'm off Healing or whatnot, I want you to remember that I'm always with you, that I'll always be there for you in a heartbeat if you need me." He attached the locket in the front and then lifted her hair off of her neck to hide the clasp in the back.

He looked up to find her gazing at him intently, and before he knew it she had grabbed his face in her hands and gently touched her lips to his. For the second time in his life, Teddy Lupin felt like he was really and truly alive. He wrapped her in his arms, deepening the kiss, feeling his heartbeat quicken and the corners of his mouth twitch upwards as the kiss lasted and lasted…

And then it was over, but they were still tangled together on the ground, arms around each other. Victoire was smiling up at him and he was sure that he had never been happier in all his life.

"I've been wanting to do that again for a year and a half," said Victoire gently, rubbing her index finger in circles on the skin of his neck right above his sweater.

"Since the Quidditch World Cup?" he asked. "Why didn't you? Vic, I've had feelings for you for a long time, and I would have gladly gone on kissing you for ages, but you never acted like you liked me again!"

"Oh," she said, rolling her eyes. "Daddy chewed me out after Skeeter wrote that article for the Daily Prophet; you know, the one about us snogging in dark corners? Anyway, he went on and on about how badly he would hex you if he found out that you were 'corrupting his baby girl,' I think that's how he put it. He wouldn't listen when I told him I was the one who snogged you."

Teddy gulped. Bill Weasley, with his scars and earring, was a genuinely terrifying man. He hadn't thought about how he'd have to break the news that they were a couple.

"So I think it might be a good idea to wait a little while to tell the family," she concluded, chuckling at the look of relief that washed over his face. "Maybe we should wait until I'm a little older. Of age, maybe."

Teddy nodded so enthusiastically that he felt like a muggle bobble head. "I think that's a brilliant idea," he agreed, sweeping her to him for another long kiss.

"And Teddy," she said, once she came up for air, a mischievous grin on her face. "Please tell Hagrid that you'll dog sit for him anytime. I rather like the privacy."

Laughter filled the hut, Fang howling right along,


End file.
